


Surrender to the Sun

by Soldier24



Series: An Anthology for the Young, the Old, and the Dead [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:21:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28334544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soldier24/pseuds/Soldier24
Summary: "Hey, Reyes, how much did you put down on me pulling off a dumb stunt?" He called through the coms, rolling his shoulder to check it one more time as the emitter died down."Oh now the son of the bitch speaks, not when I was fucking asking if he was even fucking alive." Reyes snapped back."I think you should double it." He thought again.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Series: An Anthology for the Young, the Old, and the Dead [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075013
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Surrender to the Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [awritersdelight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/awritersdelight/gifts).



> Happy Holidays y'all.

He hits the ground. Shoulder clacking in a way that experiences suggests is either dislocation or a hairline fracture. 

Neither sounds particularly great in his current predicament, but he supposes he only has himself to blame. He can hear Reyes cursing over coms in a colorful litany of English, Spanish, and the tiniest bit of Arabic. And usually Jack takes this opportunity to curse right back with just a flavor of German to really piss the man off. But, for once, Jack is fully aware of how deep the shit he's gotten himself into is.

Instead of cussing or replying he throws down a biotic emitter, rolls his shoulder as he drags himself to his feet and takes aim at the one omnic that has a clear line of sight at him. A few bullets and a set of helix rockets later and his shoulder hurts worse from the recoil but the bots in bits, buying him some amount of time while the emitter does his thing.

It's his last one and when he'd left Morgan and Calderon to pick their way the last forty or so feet to the rendezvous point, it felt wrong to take one off them. Not with the way Calderon was bleeding and Morgan was all but sniveling. The point being, it's his last one. 

Gabe bitches at him more through coms and he's got half the mind to shut it off. Knows that if by some miracle he survives the latest shit show he's gotten himself into that SEP command will be chewing him out along with Gabriel. 

In all fairness, Reyes did warn them. That Jack wasn't cut out for command. That Jack was all about charging into danger headfirst and hoping it worked out. That Jack was built of mostly luck and half a chance with a problem with authority and no issue in pointing out how stupid he thought those in authority and their commands were.

The fact that he managed to fool the U.S. military and SEP long enough to get into the program, hell to complete it, by selling himself as an all-American blue-eyed, blonde boy said more about what the military was willing to buy than his acting skills. But well. Now he had, frankly, more to worry about.

Because see, Gabriel was built for command. It's inevitable that they'll select him to lead whatever super secret squad they build out of what's left of SEP. With Amari sniffing around, it's bound to be international. 

And Jack, Jack has a mile long file detailing his issues with command (Reyes being the usual exception, but not always i.e. the cussing in his ear). Jack has nothing special about other than the general higher durability of a SEP super soldier. Nearly died to get just that and Gabe-

Gabe on the other hand can reload faster than most people can see. Can sneak quiet as a ghost into impossible positions and shoots twice, ask questions later. Tracks the omnics with a disconcerting speed. 

Sure, Jack can track for stints. But then his eyes lose focus for too long, lands him with the same headaches that Reyes gets but way more debilitating. 

Yep, not a single thing of note about Jack. 

Except. Except that Jack has gotten comfortable in the role as Reyes' second. His position as right hand man isn't something that he is willing to let go of even if Reyes moves up in the world. Which means that Jack means to turn his dumb luck into a fucking good ass reason to get promoted with him. Can't follow the letter of the law but can follow Gabe, can push ahead to make way for his shotguns. Take potshots at impossible targets from all sorts of places, from two places at once if need be.

Jack can hit the ground running. 

First though, Jack has to get out of this shit show of a mission alive. Morgan is a good dude, but a terrible team lead and this little experiment of separating Gabe and Jack hadn't helped the situation. After all, Jack is a hard headed asshole and he had no intention of following anyone's lead (i.e. anyone that wasn't Gabriel and even then probably like half the time). (A quarter might still be too generous?) 

He breathes.

"Hey, Reyes, how much did you put down on me pulling off a dumb stunt?" He called through the coms, rolling his shoulder to check it one more time as the emitter died down.

"Oh now the son of the bitch speaks, not when I was fucking asking if he was even fucking alive." Reyes snapped back.

"I think you should double it." He thought again. Looked at the jump he was aiming to make. The impossible distance between him and the nearest extraction point. The bastions that stood between him and safety. He'd have to outrun their firing programs, rushing by so quickly that their targeting software didn't have time to fully lock on. Jack had to run at an inhuman speed. "Maybe triple it. Quadruplet if me being alive isn't necessary for you to win."

"Morrison." Reyes growled back at him in a way that made his body tingle. Which was sorely unprofessional, but hey he was a red blooded American boy, sue him. "Stay where you are. We're coming to get you."

"No. You aren't." Jack laughed, "I can see like four bastions from where I am. No one is coming to get me."

"You're not the only one who can rush headlong into danger, you idiot." The words were almost fond, colored with the determination that Jack had long admired. Loyalty to an extreme few could ever understand, much less grasp. He could read between the lines, hear the unspoken 'I'm coming to get you, myself asshole.'

"Yeah," Jack shot back, ignoring the unspoken words for both of their sakes. "But I'm the only one that can rush headlong out of it." He braced himself. No running start. Just a quick shot of his helix rockets into the wood paneling of the balcony he'd landed on and a too long jump to another building. A race pass several omnics and the latest targeting tech. And at least one fucking bastion following him the whole way. "I can do this, Gabe." He assured him and didn't wait before adding in, "Watch me." 

Jack grinned as Reyes started to rip him a new one over coms, shot the rockets and fucking flew. 

He landed on his feet. Hit the roof running. The heat of the bullets and lasers on his heels but always that one step behind. He was just that one step ahead as he tucked his gun in and ran, rushed forward ceaselessly. Headlong into danger, on the heels of death itself. 

He jumped again, turning in midair to take a potshot at a bastion. Like flying too close to the sun, the thought cross his mind. And suddenly he couldn't let go of the idea. Of Icarus soaring higher not out of hubris but out a desire to live beyond the restraints put on him for so long. And after it all it was not his father that was remembered for all he'd done. The name slipped from Jack's mind over and over again as he fell back in what felt like slow motion. He aimed once more and launched his rockets. Watched the bastion fall to pieces as he hit the vinyl balcony covering, tore through it and hit the ground. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, taking in the surrounding area and then ran once more. Soared through the streets as he did.

He'd joked once with Gabriel, 21st century humor, that he wasn't here for a long time, just a fun time. But even that wasn't entirely true, Jack didn't want to die, didn't want to live all that much either. He just wanted to push forward, rush into a future that meant he didn't feel the crushing weight of the cage he'd spent most his life in. The expectations that he always failed to meet. A good son. A good soldier. Hell, a good friend.

He ran and didn't stop until two hands closed over his shoulders and yanked him to a standstill. Gabriel's warm eyes meeting his a beat later and Jack, exhausted, smiled before dropping down onto aching knees. 

Icarus surrendering his all to the sun.

"You crazy _hijo de puta_." Reyes managed and proceeded to rip him a new one, his hands squeezing Jack's shoulders even as the medics came to sweep him away. And Jack grinned despite the ache of his body, the sharp pain in his ribs. He grinned and thought of soaring higher.


End file.
